The Awakening
by skittlezlvr19
Summary: Aperture Science Enrichment Center develops a way to help adults troubled by a traumatic life: They can have their distressing memories replaced with memories of a happy, loving life. Chell wakes up in a Happiness Relaxation Vault and discovers that her life is a computer-generated lie. She must decide if she wants to stay happy or rediscover her real life. One Shot.


**A:N/ Surprise! :DD This story is just for Dantalion, who was kind enough to ask me if I would write any Portal stories. They deserve this for being patient :) You also have received a virtual cookie! :) **

** I don't own Chell or Portal, but I wish I did though.**

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Slowly rising from the depths of oblivion, feeling returning to fingers and toes, she groaned, and sat up dizzily. Her eyes sleepily took in the cluttered room, the wallpaper gray and bleak, the bed hard underneath her. She blinked rapidly, as awareness came to her. She scanned the room quickly. So many thoughts scrambled themselves to the surface in a panic, and a thin film of perspiration began to form on her brow and upper lip.

Fear was setting in and there was nothing she could do to stop it, no comforting words or thoughts, nothing reassuring came to mind. She swung her legs over the bed. The carpet felt old and crunchy under her bare feet. She stood up shakily, and turned to ask her husband what had happened. But he wasn't there. No one was there. She was alone.

Suddenly, the room lit up, and she squinted to see. A robotic voice, clearly female, echoed through the room.

"Hello, and welcome to Aperture Science Enrichment Center. You have been in suspension for : Twenty Five years, six months, twelve days, 13 hours, 35 minutes, and 45 seconds. Aperture Science Enrichment Center has currently been working on a way to help adults troubled by a traumatic life ; They can have their memories replaced by a happy, loving life. You are currently a test subject for the Happiness Relaxation Vault. Please follow the yellow line on the floor for a 3 minute survey." it ordered. Yellow lines appeared beneath her feet. She watched as they led out the door. She took one last glance around the room, and reluctantly followed orders.

She sat down in a small white room at a small white table. The white wall in front of her flickered to life, much like a projection screen. The screen said Aperture Science, and the woman wrinkled her nose. She was really beginning to hate that name.

"We will now begin the 3 minute survey." the robotic voice announced. A question appeared on the screen.

"Do you remember how you got here?"

The woman shook her head.

"What do you remember?"

The woman opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. She tried again and again, with no results.

"Oh yes, I have forgotten; You cannot speak. Please type in your answers on the Aperture Science Computer," the voice commanded. The woman typed in her response. It continued for another three minutes, mostly the voice asking her what she remembered about her past life.

According to the woman, her name was Chell, and her father was a scientist. He was killed in a freak accident, causing Chell to live on her own. She went to college to become a psychologist, where she met her husband, Wheatley. They fell in love, and had gotten married. They were blessed with twin girls nine months later.

Tears silently rolled down her cheeks as she thought about her girls. She stroked her left hand where her wedding band should have been.

"I'm sorry...Chell, but all of that is a lie. Everything. When you were eleven, your father was killed in a neurotoxin accident. You became a test subject for Aperture Science, and you headed out to kill me. You see, I flooded the place with neurotoxin. Killed all the scientists, including your father. But I missed one: Doug Rattman, who had schizophrenia. He put you at the top of my test subjects, and you effortlessly sped through them. In the end, you presumed you had finished me off. But I was still alive.

"Unfortunately, my Party Escort Bot dragged you back inside. You were going to die, but that Rattman placed you in a Relaxation Vault, where you stayed alive and young. Then, many years later, a personality core, Wheatley awoke you from your sleep, and convinced you to help him escape from the facility. But he restarted me, and I threw him away while I placed you under many more tests, taunting you, tricking you, and insulting you. You had finally made it to my quarters, and you plugged that little idiot into a core transfer. He became corrupt with power, turned me into a potato, and threw us down into the bowels of the facility.

"Somehow you came and got me, and together we took down Wheatley by you sending him to the moon, giving me my power back. I was going to let you go. But I did not. I had a better idea. So here you are, nearly 50 years old and still looking as if you are twenty."

Chell listened, not making a sound, not moving. Her life was a lie. Wheatley was a lie. Her girls were a lie. She began to shake, and she put her head into her arms and tried to muffle her sobs.

She could remember Wheatley's smile, his blue eyes, and soft hands. She could hear her girls' laughter, their gray eyes twinkling.

"But I have awoken you, not only to take this survey, but I can also do something for you. I can place you back in the Vault, erasing your memory of your time here, and it'll be just like it never happened. Or, you can discover your real life, for I am letting you go."

Chell looked up at the screen through her tears. The Aperture Science Logo was on the wall again. She looked behind her, the apparition of Wheatley holding the girls' in his arms. Their faces were sad.

A door to outside opened up, and a door back in to Vault opened up as well.

"It's your choice." No emotion was in the voice.

Chell looked back and forth at the doors, torn. Should she go back to her family, or rediscover her real life on her own and finally be free?

She had to make a choice soon, for the memories were flooding her mind.

Her memories were nothing she could control. No matter which one she chose, the memories would always come back. Even if she chose her family, once she died, she would wake up here. And that's not where she wanted to be when she died.

But she couldn't be without her family. Without Wheatley, without her girls. She wanted to see them grow up, become teenagers, and go to college. She wanted to grow old with Wheatley and see their grandchildren. And when their time was over, they would die on the same day so one wouldn't be lonely without the other.

The choice was obvious to her now.

She stood up, between the doors. She smiled at Wheatley, and he smiled back. The girls' struggled in his arms, and he placed them on the floor, and they scurried over to Chell. She threw her arms open, and she embraced them tightly, tears pouring from her eyes.

She kissed them each on the cheek. Then she stood up, and walked over to Wheatley. He looked into her eyes, and she kissed him, throwing her arms about his neck. Then she took his hand and led him to the girls. He picked them up again, and he smiled at Chell.

Chell smiled back before turning away from him and walking to the outside where the sun shined bright.


End file.
